Google's voice assistant is officially bilingual

(Image credit: GLENN CHAPMAN/AFP/Getty Images)

published 30 August 2018

Google Assistant is growing more powerful by the day.

The voice assistant can now understand two languages at once, helping it to fit more seamlessly in the growing number of bilingual homes. Google unveiled the new feature at Berlin's IFA Tech Show on Thursday, and the company says all Assistants worldwide are now polyglots.

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While bilingual families easily transition from one language to another, Google has spent years teaching its Assistant to do the same. As the company spelled out in a blog post, the update forces Google's algorithm to recognize what language is being spoken before it can process the request. This process gets complicated, so users have to specify which two languages they want their Google Assistant to understand.

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Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.

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